Officially chemically sensitized here, for over 30 years after chemical exposure at work. Perfumes are my big problem. Once I got stuck on a crowded overseas flight near somebody with strong perfume and it started nine months of bronchitis. I haven’t flown in about 15 years now as a result.
Please, consider you might make somebody very ill with your perfume!
One of the worst examples I’ve noticed was when somebody passed me on the Interstate and I could smell their perfume…
In general I have always loved scents; wearing them and smelling them on others. Occasionally someone will overdo it but I’m fortunate to not have any allergies or respiratory issues so for me it’s, at most, a minor annoyance. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say when I used to hear people like the OP whinging about other peoples’ cologne, I mentally :rolleyes:
HOWEVER . . . my former boss, who has since been unceremoniously invited to never darken this company’s door again, used to come in wrapped up in a funk that could make me retch. I have no idea what it was but the best way I can think to describe it is “just washed(and still wet) dog sitting on an old couch at Goodwill”. People used to say he was covering up the evidence of the previous night’s drinking spree but I’m familiar with that odor - I don’t really even mind it- and this was something else. I’d only have to step off the elevator, which is some 200 feet away from our department, to know if he had arrived yet. A green cloud surrounded him and contaminated the airspace long after he left an area. It really did make me physically ill and ever since, I have the utmost sympathy for people who suffer with other peoples’ scents. I guess I had to experience it to understand how distressing it can be.
Off topic but I regularly drive a convertible on the interstate.
It’s amazing how often I’m driving through a lingering trail of marijuana smoke. You’d think that stuff would be spread pretty thin as it wafts out the windows of whoever is smoking it. Plus being spread around by all the turbulence coming off other cars plus the natural wind. Not so.
Oh, and in case I didn’t make it clear, I used the term “whinging” to describe how I used to feel; not that I think **CelticKnot **is whinging in his / her OP.
No and Hell No.
We refer to those people as practicing “I reek therefore I am”
Our contention is that they are unsure of their own existence unless they can smell themselves 24/7. So they bathe in perfume to the degree that they can smell themselves even when they become inured to the stench. This results is everyone else being able to predict their arrival by the cloud the precedes them by 10 minutes.
Thanks for clarifying. I hoped I didn’t sound that way.
I have severe (self inflicted) lung disease on top of asthma and I have a lot of trouble in public spaces due to scents. The problem with having a violent coughing fit, leading to breathlessness, leading to collapse is that it is often the scented offender who is nearest and kindly comes to my aid.
I can usually walk around or away from people but the thing I make a very loud noise about is chemists/pharmacies who expect me to line up and pay for my large assortment of lung meds in a perfume aisle. It is very common in our cheaper chains.
Some women tend to like expensive perfumes. I enjoy them also, yet not for myself. The point I’m trying to make is that some of those expensive perfumes can carry quite a ways when over applied!!
I once was walking through the hallway at my workplace and there was a high profile woman in one of the conference rooms waiting for a meeting. The door was open and I could smell her perfume all the way down the hallway; it was so strong.
In addition, I usually stop at the gas station before work and grab a few waters for work. There is this woman that always seems to be there also…and usually either right in front of or in back of me in line. It’s obvious she wears expensive perfume to the point that it’s almost gagging. I wish these people would understand that with expensive perfumes that “just a dab will do ya”…
Boy, I must be in the minority. I love scents. I love the scent of laundry detergent and fabric softener, especially if the laundry has been dried outside. I love fresh scents - detergents, soaps, colognes, deodorants, etc. Apple cinnamon, pumpkin spice, campfire, pine, and fresh linen scented candles…love them all. The right scent on a man can be very sexy…if he’s not doused in it.
Scents done properly are wonderful. Of course, there are scents that I don’t like and would never use myself. But I can handle them if I smell them on others. I don’t flip out over it. And I understand if people can’t handle scents because of allergies. But it must be hard, scents are everywhere.
Only if you weigh the same as a duck.
The only scent I wear is from my toothpaste. Soaps and anti-perspirant are unscented, rarely use dryer sheets and if I do I’ll leave the clothes hanging until the scent goes away. To me, the best scent is none at all.
I wear scent, but usually put it on while I’m still naked, so it’s under my clothes, and almost always more than 2 hours before I leave for work. By the time I leave, I’m typically the only one who can smell it.
Perfume and other scents are fine, but it shouldn’t be any stronger than an unexpected light whiff you can smell maybe a foot or two away. If I can smell you coming, you’re wearing way too much perfume. That’s why I’m not a huge fan of scented lotions you get as “I don’t know what to get you, here’s some lotion and a candle” gifts during the holidays. Most Bath & Body Works lotions and others of that ilk are these sickly sweet concoctions with scents that carry over several rows of cubes at work. It’s like walking by the Yankee Candle Factory, only I can’t keep walking because that’s my desk, dammit.
I shouldn’t be able to smell lotion unless I’m standing next to you while you’re putting on said lotion.
The only scent I ever wear is Royal Lyme, and that wears off fast- and isnt strong. So, no.
I notice smokers tend to wear heavy scents.
I used to love them, too, until they started making me sick. Migraine, nausea, dizziness, foggy brain, etc. My take is that perfume is for the people who get close to you, so if I can smell you 2 cubicles away and the smell is filling the workspace and spilling out into the hall, it is no longer perfume, it is air freshener, and for me, that’s air pollution. My manager has moved me multiple times but won’t ask people to tone it down. “We can’t tell people not to wear something.” I’m sure that’s what they said about smoking in the workplace and in public places. Some of my coworkers know I experience this and wear them anyway. They think I can’t smell them from here (several cubicles away). I can, plus I need to walk that way to get my stuff off the printer we all share. It’s a constant battle.
When I wear perfume, I wear one or two very small dabs. Anything that is sprayed is one very light spritz and not full on. I am very mindful of how much I wear and how strong the scent is. It’s not for anyone who isn’t nuzzled up to me to smell.